


La forêt des mal-aimés

by SgtPepper007



Series: EXO Oneshots [14]
Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Forests, Friendship, Gen, Light Angst, Nature, Souls
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-04
Updated: 2019-11-04
Packaged: 2021-01-23 00:29:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,874
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21311149
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SgtPepper007/pseuds/SgtPepper007
Summary: There lies a mystery about a forest in town, a forest no one dares explore. It is widely known that whoever enters it suffers consequences, based on many different tales. While Fall is approaching its end, Baekhyun just so happens to enter that forest with one of his friends. And that encounter in that mystic area opens up a whole new world before Baekhyun's eyes.
Series: EXO Oneshots [14]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1257455
Comments: 2
Kudos: 4





	La forêt des mal-aimés

**Author's Note:**

  * For [melon_love](https://archiveofourown.org/users/melon_love/gifts).

> This oneshot was inspired by [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K09s0FgMEzM) song by Pierre Lapointe I have always loved and can't get out of my head for the past few days. 
> 
> This oneshot is also dedicated to a dear friend of mine, Melon. I've been wanting to dedicate a writing to you for so long but couldn't because of circumstances you are aware of. However, I was able to write as inspiration suddenly hit me while listening to the song named just like the oneshot. It probably isn't a kind of read you'd usually go for, but I hope you'll like it nevertheless <3

Something was strange. Something unexplainable was arousing uneasiness; tension. The air was thick, grazing suffocation; the temperature felt even lower in that specific region, and the echo created by the dried abandoned leaves on the ground being crushed by soles was heavy. The whole atmosphere of simply standing in between those trees caused chills to crawl down his spine and made him doubt stepping foot into the forest. It wasn’t something rational; it was just a feeling, a palpable tense feeling that something he couldn’t put his finger on was odd.

At least, that’s what Sehun was trying to explain to Baekhyun after penetrating the forest at the far upper east side of the town. Baekhyun had heard about this particular forest, commonly known as the ‘forest of the unloved ones’. He had heard about it on multiple occasions when he was in high school; rumors spread about how the forest brought misfortune to whoever would dare follow its path, that it was haunted and cursed. Some students liked to share tales about the many adventures, without or without witnesses, that took place in that forest. It was the most popular spot for excursions at night during Halloween parties, the most feared initiation for the freshmen entering university, the most mystical place in town. 

No one knew if any of it was true, yet no one truly wanted to confirm or deny the tales, aside from a few daring ones that had come back from little adventures in the forest, claiming that there was nothing to it, or on the other hand, saying that they wouldn’t recommend for anyone to enter that area. But one thing was sure; no one had entered that forest more than once. And now, while barely having graduated from university, Baekhyun and Sehun were walking through that forest they had happened to pass by. 

But Baekhyun didn’t seem to be as affected as Sehun at that moment, or rather, he wasn’t affected in the same way. To Baekhyun, the chills traveling along his body weren’t of fear, the uneasiness the whole peculiar atmosphere brought to him wasn’t pushing him away; it was pulling him deeper into the desolate, freezing vegetation. 

“Aren’t you feeling like this only because of the tales we’ve been told since we were kids?” Baekhyun reasoned, plunged even more into the forest’s attracting depths with each step. “I’m sure you wouldn’t be feeling this way if you hadn’t heard of the forest before. You’re definitely influenced by the rumors around it.”

“I’m not joking around, Baek. This place is scary as fuck.”

“You’re just a scaredy cat to begin with.”

“That, I am not.”

“You can’t even watch a horror movie commercial without looking away or covering your eyes.”

“I’m not kidding.” Sehun looked behind him, the longing to go back evident in his eyes. “Seriously, this place is giving me the creeps. Let’s just head out, please.”

Baekhyun inhaled deeply before exhaling slowly, as if in meditation. Barely perceptible clouds of frost came out of his nose, the mid-November chilly temperature truly feeling colder in the forest. Wind blew softly for a short moment, not even strong enough to make their scarves move, and at that moment, Baekhyun felt his eyes grow heavier with forming tears. He blinked rapidly while trying to ignore the very strong emotion that had suddenly knocked over him. The wind had felt like quiet cries, sorrow emanating from the life around him. Baekhyun felt that emotion so strongly he stopped in his tracks, frozen in place as he took in the intensity of the pain and anguish he could vividly feel, not knowing if the source of it was himself. 

He didn’t notice he had been staying still in the middle of the path until Sehun put a hand on his shoulder, pulling him out of his trance. “Are you alright? Baek?”

“Maybe it’s best if we leave.”

🌻 🌻 🌻

Christmas was right at the corner. Lights of various colours decorated the whole town, Christmas carols and jazzy tunes constantly played in the malls and markets, kids cried while sitting on Santa’s knees. It was the most joyful time of the year for the majority of the population. The excitement over Christmas holidays was high in the air. Baekhyun could sense it strongly in his small and close circle of friends; Sehun would fly to his hometown where he would spend the holidays with his family, Kyungsoo had planned a trip in the mountains in the south with his fiancé, and Lu Han would host his parents and sister at his home for the occasion. Most of Baekhyun's coworkers who couldn’t take vacations had at least planned an activity with their friends, lovers or family. 

Meanwhile, Baekhyun would have none of that. After completing his doctorate in oceanography, with the focus on marine biology, he had been working for a research laboratory in which he had done an internship during his studies, which was the main reason he was staying in the US and hadn’t moved back to Bucheon with his family. He had the luck to be chosen as an employee after graduating, but he couldn’t ask for holidays with such little seniority. He wanted to eventually be able to observe and understand, hopefully even discover, the many marine species in Antarctica and this was only the first step in order to reach his goal. He also couldn’t afford to visit his parents in the other continent with a rent to pay, shared with Sehun, nor his parents had the luxury to afford that either. He would probably spend Christmas on his own, cooking his favourite chocolate chip and blueberry muffins, and watching his favourite TV series. ‘That 70’s Show’ marathons were never an occasion to pass on.

Life went on when he graduated a few months back, with a brand new routine spent mostly in the research laboratory. However, Baekhyun hadn’t suspected one particular thing to be integrated into that routine. Ever since his short walk with his friend a month ago, thoughts and feelings about the forest clouded Baekhyun’s mind. Thick, numerous clouds. Unlike Sehun who had seemed to forget about it, Baekhyun’s mind was stuck on it. He had mentioned their trip in the forest once, but Sehun had discarded the conversation by telling him that it wasn’t important and completely useless to think back about. He just felt lucky that he hadn’t been cursed or anything of that sort, although he blamed the forest when his girlfriend broke up with him a week after their short exploration. But for Baekhyun, it wasn’t as simple. 

It wasn’t simple when he could still clearly remember the intensity of the emotions he had felt, when he could recall the exact same sensation that had possessed his body when the wind blew, when he felt like the forest was calling out to him. He was undeniably curious about the mystical forest he had heard so much about all of his life, and he couldn’t fight it off. He could blame it on the fact that as a researcher, it was only natural for him to have his interest set so strongly over something mysterious no one had answers about, but he knew it was deeper than that. It was more than mere interest; it was an instinct, a need.

On Christmas, Baekhyun was welcomed by the silence of the empty apartment, Sehun having left a couple of days before. He stayed faithful to his initial plans and dozed off all morning, and decided to bake his favourite muffins after getting up. He was tired after spending a rather busy week, so he lazed around all day long in front of his television, laughing at Red’s signature ‘kicking asses’ lines and Kelso’s stupidity. The only thing that reminded him that it was Christmas was the decoration in the apartment, as well as the feeling of emptiness weighing down on him. After all, he never got used to spending Christmas alone even after living away from his family for years. 

Evening was at the door quicker than he wished and Baekhyun cooked himself a Kimchi Jjigae, using his mother’s recipe. There was nothing more comforting than soup and he felt like eating something spicy. While eating, his mind drifted off to the one thing that had been in his mind without rest. He somehow felt that strange pull even more strongly that evening. 

He wasn’t really conscious of the series of events that had occured when he found himself standing right in front of the entrance of the forest, with his warm coat and boots on, paired with gloves and a scarf that covered half of his face, standing outside in the freezing weather at the far east side of town, an hour away from the apartment complex. He realised how insane he had acted when looking around him, a few houses with lights on and open blinds, the sight of the cheerful citizens playing in front of him as they celebrated the special day. He should have been in his apartment, wrapped in blankets with tea in hand, he should be continuing his marathon and eating the muffins he had baked a couple of hours earlier. Yet he was standing alone in front of the forest that was apparently cursed, shaking in the cold with no lights to guide him into the darkness of the forest that wasn’t illuminated in the slightest. Every park and forest in town had decorations, yet this one was abandoned.

Baekhyun sighed and stood still for a moment, contemplating whether he should return in his car and drive back or enter the forest he had been dying to explore ever since he walked into it with Sehun. His shoulders slumped in resignation when he finally reasoned. He was about to turn on his heels when his attention was suddenly caught by another wave of emotion, resembling the one he had felt a month ago. His eyes stung again, facing the wide forest at his feet. He didn’t move an inch for a while as he was caught yet again in a trance-like state, completely mesmerized, all his attention solely on the mystery before him. When a gust of wind blew his hair, being harshly combed by it, Baekhyun could distinctly hear sobs. He couldn’t quite comprehend it, but his feet moved on their own, a strange force pulling him like a magnet, and without him knowing it, he had entered the forest.

Each step against the ground shuffled the very thin layer of snow covering it, leaving footsteps behind and making him go deeper and deeper into the forest, enhancing the discomfort tugging at his heart strings. It was quiet, his steps and breathing breaking the silence, yet he felt like an unusual presence accompanied him. With the help of the flashlight on his cellphone, he admired the tall and old trees, naked and cold, unbearably so. It was even more freezing than outside of the forest, and Baekhyun was reminded of the chills that had been present the last time he went there, which were even stronger as he was walking at that moment.

“...ly.”

Baekhyun stopped breathing at the foreign sound he heard and froze in his position. If he didn’t feel like having a reason to be frightened before, now he had one. He had just heard a voice. He turned around frantically, pointing his cellphone in every direction, but couldn’t see anything.

“...n- nely. Lonely-”

Baekhyun now started to realise that his idea truly was crazy. He must have had gone mad to be doing such an insane thing; walking in a deserted forest at night, that reeked of something unidentified and incredibly heavy in the air around him. His breathing accelerated, fear violently taking a hold of him. It was awful mixed with the ache from the emotions already swirling in him, strangling him, which were even more palpable after hearing the voice. While moving in panic, he stumbled on a root that he hadn’t noticed and bumped his back against a tree. As soon as he came in contact with it, he felt engulfed by an energy he had never felt before. A surprised shriek escaped his lips when he felt arms wrap around him, seizing him in desperation, yet he couldn’t touch them. He was convinced that his heart would rip out of his chest.

“I’m so lonely. Please don’t leave!”

While hearing these words resonate, he realised that they didn’t resonate around him, but rather in his mind. The voice wasn’t like his, echoing in the wide forest; he heard it in his head. Baekhyun, still in panic, tried to move his arms, but it only made the energy grasp him even more forcefully.

“Don’t go yet! Please!” the voice grew louder, more defined.

He was starting to sweat despite the cold weather, skin clammy under his winter wear. The more agitated Baekhyun was, the more unbearable the hold on him was. It was only making it worse and he knew it would lead him nowhere. And so he tried to regulate his breathing in spite of the adrenaline clouding his senses. He was scared, but keeping up with his irrational survival instinct was too taxing on his energy, especially since his whole being was bathing in unbearable sadness that had hit even before setting foot in the forest. 

He took long and deep breaths, painful and clumsy at the start, but eventually more controlled with each attempt. As his body and racing mind progressively calmed down, he whispered soothing words. He wasn’t sure if they were for himself or the energy around him, but it seemed to also make the untouchable hold ease as well. When he fully rested his back and head against the tree, hands on the trunk, he heard the voice even more clearly. It’s when he heard the sobs even louder, a strong unparalleled pang of pain taking over him, that he started to slowly move his hands on the trunk, in a comforting manner. He closed his eyes and completely immersed himself into the energy enveloping him, breathing still deep.

“Shhh, I’m here,” Baekhyun whispered, the lump caught in his throat and almost spilling tears making it impossible for him to speak louder. The movements of his hands gained in confidence, tracing circles before caressing it slowly. The sobs lasted for a long while, but it eventually quieted down, Baekhyun calming down as well. He wasn’t frightened anymore, he strangely felt like he could trust the forest, like he could trust the trees, or rather that they trusted him. He couldn't understand it, heck no words could even explain the intensity of the emotions and strange things happening, but it was a sensation he couldn't shake off. 

He tried to move his body away from the tree, and to his relief, the energy around him let him be. He walked away from the tree and took his phone. An instinct he couldn’t quite get made him think that it would be better if he would turn the flashlight off, which he obeyed without a second thought. He walked blindly around the tree he had fell on, his footsteps echoing in the abandoned forest, hands tentatively touching another tree nearby. He was absolutely intrigued by the phenomenon he had just underwent and was greatly pulled to the vegetation. He was in too deep; turning back wasn't an option. 

After hesitantly leaving his hands on the trunk, the same sensation of some being wrapping around him came back, holding him and encouraging him to touch it. However, it had a different energy than the other one, yet the aching was as strong. He felt his entire being enveloped in pure sorrow, possessed by it. He heard another voice talking to him, saying that it had a lot of regrets as it was holding Baekhyun against it. Baekhyun listened to it with attention, hands and arms against the trunk as his eyes struggled to contain the tears battling their way out. After a while, just like with the other tree, he stepped back and touched another one, and another one. 

He walked farther into the forest while touching the trees and branches he could reach, captured by their unique and diverse energies as he connected with them. Each pulse of energy emitted pleas, cries of pain and solitude, of abandonment, and each one of them gave a little piece of themselves to Baekhyun as he was completely bathing in the feelings they shared. Some trees talked about their past, others stayed silent but conveyed their sufferings solely through their emotions, their pure agony and longing.

Baekhyun spent two hours walking in the forest as tears streamed down his face in compassion and desolation, plunged in complete darkness, listening to the trees’ complaints and pleas for help, listening to diverse souls he had come to meet, wrapped by a force stronger than anything he had ever felt before.

🌻 🌻 🌻

The winter was harsher than usual that year. But it didn’t stop Baekhyun from visiting the forest on a regular basis. In between his busy days at the laboratory and hanging out with his friends, he had added a few hours of his spare time within the forest as part of his routine. He came to grow closer to the forest with each one of his visits, to the point where even he confided in the trees and branches. Something particular and unique happened each time he met them, and he felt like he was somehow comforting their wounded and lost souls with his presence and words. Sometimes he wouldn't even speak, only walking around while whistling a melody that came to mind, other times humming as he brushed the naked trees and smiled.

His friends were worried about him and thought he was mad for spending so much time there. Baekhyun had tried to bring them along with him, but it was in vain. Kyungsoo had accepted once to accompany him in one of his walks there, but he found the atmosphere too odd and was repulsed by the aura around it. Baekhyun couldn't blame him since he was aware that the air there was...special. Kyungsoo's fiancé was also worried and had sternly told Kyungsoo that he shouldn't go there again, having grown up with the belief that the forest was an unapproachable area. 

The seasons passed and spring was showing it colours. Baekhyun was in complete awe during that season, both negatively and positively. He hadn't strolled in the forest when the trees were in bloom, and what he witnessed struck him; the forest grew more and more animated, multiplying in beautiful, marvelous life and vegetation, but also in ache, numerous new voices speaking and dragging him along with them. He felt highly assaulted by them at first, the air incredibly thick and heavy whenever he would merely pass by around the forest without entering it. His body trembled in torment, just like the new lives in the forest that violently conveyed their anguish with a strong form of desperation, unlike the old trees he had met in the winter. They were more impatient, more distressed.

Baekhyun took the time to get to know the new vegetations that were growing, touching each and every leaf he could, petals of the flowers in bloom, the grass and soil covering the entire forest. He felt the energy of the many beds of flowers that covered some areas with his flesh and mind, almost pitying them. The whole forest, majestuous in its sorrow, was both impressive and plunged in pain. But while Baekhyun was overwhelmed by the level of desolation in the air, suffocating him at first, he didn't let it faze him much longer and treated the new arrivals just like he did with the trees he came to know months prior.

Years and seasons flew by, and Baekhyun had developed a bond with the forest beyond compare. He was treated like one of their own, and it was reciprocal. Sometimes he would simply find a spot and lay on the grass, napping in tranquility that the nature offered him, while other times he worked on his research, lending his ear when the forest reached out to him. He was always on the lookout to its needs and respected it. He had come to consider the forest as his second family. Every spring was eventful, filled with new arrivals in distress, and he welcomed them with wide arms.

When Baekhyun had the golden opportunity to go to Antarctica, after years of arduous and dedicated work, he was absolutely torn to leave the forest behind. The trees cried their pain out multiple weeks before his leave and he dedicated even more time into healing the forest and giving it all the comfort he could. 

🌻 🌻 🌻

Baekhyun was happy. His job was thorough, rigorous and merciless, but he was doing what passionated him the most. Antarctica was as cold as he imagined it to be, physically and mentally. He was working with a team and grew quite close to two of the researchers, Yixing and Jongdae, but he was lonely. His friends and family were out of reach, and he couldn't contact them much without service and wifi connection. The research base had great technology, but there were specific times of day allowed to contact his peers and they were little.

However, exploring the sea and life in the territory was delightful and impressive. Baekhyun observed creatures he had aspired to see with his own eyes, studied their behaviours, dangerous but also harmless depending on the species. He discovered a whole new world opening up to him and he was enjoying every second of it. He didn't live in the best conditions, and he found himself missing the comfort of his heater and bed back in his apartment on too many occasions, longing to eat Sehun's homemade and delicious cakes, to hear Lu Han's voice in person rather than on an electronic device, to attend Kyungsoo and his fiancé's 10th marriage anniversary, to embrace his parents and tell them that he loved them. The forest he came to cultivate a powerful bond with always stayed in his heart. He sometimes wondered how they were doing and hoped the trees and flowers were fine on their own. But he was fulfilling his dream and he wouldn't have traded it.

At the age of 45, Baekhyun's life was taken away on the research sites. The rise in temperature melted the ice at a quick pace and had flooded the main area of the research base, the freezing sea taking the lives of the passionate and curious humans with it. 

In the following spring, the forest inhabiting abandoned, lonely and unloved deceased beings through its vegetation, leaves and petals holding a soul, welcomed thousands of lost beings, living in regret, suffering and longing; souls reuniting in the forest through their common feelings. However, for the first time in its history, a sunflower started blooming, bright and lively, bringing hope and love to the ones in need, the soul of a human that had cherished the unwanted souls and would continue to give them light.


End file.
